May 18

Hospital Wing Corridor

12.03 PM

"Thanks for escorting us to the crime scene, Officer Marshall!" Trucy said, bouncing slightly on her toes. "I'll be sure to tell Daddy we met."

Jake tipped his hat slightly to her, then turned to Apollo.

"There's something you haven't asked me," he remarked, "and I'm surprised you haven't."

Apollo frowned in puzzlement, trying to think of what he could've forgotten.

"Um…"

Jake smirked faintly at him. "I'm the one who discovered the fire."

Apollo smacked himself lightly in the forehead. (Of course!) "Can you tell us about it?" he asked.

"Sure," Jake replied. He drew a buck knife from under his poncho and idly scraped some of the stubble from his chin. "About ten past midnight I was passing the laundry room when I smelled smoke. I looked inside and saw the fire – it was already out of control." Jake put the knife away. "I hit the fire alarm and beat it down to the surveillance room. That's when I discovered the automatic release for the cells on A Wing wasn't working."

"I see," Apollo replied. "What happened then?"

"I called the fire service while Warden Peace suited up and went to open the cells manually," Jake answered.

" 'Suited up'?" Trucy asked.

"Yeah," Jake replied. "The warden was the designated fire safety officer that night, so he put on breathing apparatus and fireproof overalls and gloves and went to open the cells."

"About what time was that?" Apollo asked.

"Hmm…" Jake thought for a minute. "I reckon by the time he left the surveillance room, it was about a quarter past midnight."

"So he would've arrived at the crime scene at about...?" Apollo pressed.

Jake shrugged.

"I can't tell you exactly, but he came back to the surveillance room at about twelve-thirty," he replied. "That's when he told me there'd been a murder and to call the police." He had another swig from his flask. "By then the firefighters were in the building."

Apollo nodded thoughtfully, then frowned.

"Wait – both you and the warden were here on the night of the fire?" he asked. "And both of you are working the day shift today?"

"You got it," Jake replied. "We're a little short-handed right now. Remember I told you Gavin had a lot of guards working for him? Well, some of them were reassigned to patrol other wings, but a few were fired."

"So you're working double shifts," Apollo concluded.

"It seems strange that the warden would be here that night, too," Trucy mused. "He's the boss, isn't he? Why wouldn't he assign someone else to cover that shift?"

"As I recollect," Jake replied, stroking his chin thoughtfully, "someone had called in sick unexpectedly."

"I guess that makes sense," Apollo said. He extended a hand to the cowboy prison guard. "Thanks for your help, Officer Marshall."

"My pleasure, partner," Jake said, shaking Apollo's hand firmly. "Good luck with the trial." He lowered his head slightly, the brim of his hat obscuring his face in a way that reminded Apollo of Phoenix. "You're gonna need it."

He turned and walked away from them, spurs jangling. Apollo rolled his eyes at his affected John Wayne limp.

"Let's go talk to Kitaki and Crescend."

May 18

Hospital Wing Ward 3

12.10 PM

Apollo and Trucy paused once inside the hospital ward.

"How do we know which one is Rowdy Kitaki?" Trucy whispered.

Apollo scanned the room, then gestured to one of the beds. "That's how."

Sitting next to the bed, talking to its occupant, was a man in magenta and ruffles. Apollo recognised him from Phoenix's old case files, and from material he'd studied in law school. His heart began to beat a little faster. (Miles Edgeworth. *The* Miles Edgeworth…this is who I'm up against tomorrow?)

The man rose, shaking hands with Rowdy, as Apollo and Trucy approached. They met in the centre of the ward. Edgeworth pulled up short as he and Apollo almost collided. Apollo stepped back, mouth suddenly dry as the prosecutor glared at him.

"Uh…"

Edgeworth slid his glasses off his face, drew a silk handkerchief from his pocket, and began to clean them.

"You must be Gavin's attorney," he remarked, not looking up from his task. "Apollo…Justice, is it?"

"Th-that's right," Apollo answered. "I'm here to interview the witnesses."

"Mm." Edgeworth inspected his glasses carefully and put them back on. He smirked at Apollo. "Wright's taught you that much, at least."

Apollo felt vaguely insulted...strangely enough, on Phoenix's behalf.

"Actually, I learned that in law school," he replied testily.

"My apologies," Edgeworth replied, another smirk appearing on his face. "I was under the impression you bluffed your way through cases using parlour tricks."

"Hey!" Apollo and Trucy exclaimed in unison.

Edgeworth frowned at them. "I'd keep your voices down if I were you," he advised sternly. "This is a hospital." He addressed Apollo. "I look forward to our meeting tomorrow, Justice." He began to move past them, pausing to deliver a parting shot over his shoulder. "Just try to remember, you're in a courtroom. Not a circus."

Trucy glared after him, and for a moment Apollo wondered if he was going to have to hold her back by her cape. "What a jerk!" she hissed. "I don't know what Daddy sees in him."

"Yeah, I – wait, what?" Apollo looked at her in confusion.

"They're friends," Trucy explained, giving Apollo a funny look. "Why, what did you think I meant?"

Apollo decided it was best not to answer.

"Forget it," he said. "We've got work to do." He walked over to Rowdy Kitaki's bed, Trucy following him.

In contrast to his cousin Wocky's ostentatious hairstyle, Rowdy Kitaki's jet black hair was cropped tight against his scalp. When he turned his head Apollo and Trucy could see part of a word shaved into the back of his hair. Given that the word began with "Ro", Apollo was willing to bet it was his own name.

"What do you honkies want?" he growled as Apollo and Trucy sat down.

Apollo wisely decided not to point out that Rowdy was just as white as they were. "My name's Apollo Justice," he said, showing Rowdy his attorney's badge, "and this is my assistant, Trucy Wright. I need to ask you some questions about what you saw the night of the fire –"

"No way, brah," Rowdy snarled. "You're defending Diego's murderer, I ain't talkin' to you."

Apollo was taken aback. "You – you can't do that!" he protested. "I'm an attorney investigating a murder case. Your testimony could be –"

"You wanna hear my testimony, brah, you're gonna have to wait till tomorrow," Rowdy snapped. His voice kept rising and Apollo winced, remembering what Edgeworth had said a few minutes earlier. "I'm gonna take the stand and tell everyone how that scum murdered Diego IN COLD BLOOD!"

"What's going on here?"

Apollo, Trucy and Rowdy all looked up. A nurse with her dark hair in braids had appeared by the bed.

"These honkies are pestering me and interfering with my recovery," Rowdy complained. "I'm all agitated and whatnot." He coughed exaggeratedly, and looked up at the nurse with a pleading expression. "Can I have some morphine?"

The nurse cast a reproachful stare at Trucy and Apollo.

"We were just trying to –" Apollo began, but was cut off as Rowdy broke into another round of fake coughing. (Oh, you have GOT to be kidding.)

"So weak," Rowdy croaked. "I already talked to the prosecutor for an hour…" He lay back on the pillows and closed his eyes.

"Hey!" Apollo protested as the nurse began to shoo them away from his bed. He glanced at Rowdy and lowered his voice. "You don't really believe all that, do you?"

The nurse gave him a faint, apologetic smile.

"No," she replied, "but I'm afraid that if he doesn't want to talk to you, then he won't. And Rowdy can be…very loud, about not talking."

"I'll say," Trucy remarked. She sighed. "I guess we do have to think about the other patients."

"All right," Apollo promised the nurse. "We won't talk to him." The nurse smiled her thanks and left to continue her rounds. Apollo ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

"Hey, kid, get over here."

Apollo and Trucy turned around. It took them a moment to realise that the dark-haired man beckoning them over was Daryan Crescend. His signature phallic pompadour was gone, replaced with regular bangs that reached to his eyes. The rest of his hair had been hacked back to shoulder length. He sat up a little straighter as Apollo and Trucy came over.

"Pull the curtain," Daryan said shortly, and Trucy obeyed.

"At least you're willing to talk to us," Apollo remarked as he sat down.

"Yeah, yeah," Daryan growled, pushing a stray lock of hair back behind his ear. "You aren't missing much by not getting Rowdy's testimony, because he's gonna lie his ass off in court tomorrow."

Apollo frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean Rowdy was Armando's best pal," Daryan answered. "Or thought he was." He glanced from Apollo to Trucy and back again. "See, Rowdy held up a convenience store a couple years back. Shot the clerk in front of three witnesses and a security camera. Used to be that when a Kitaki committed a crime, evidence like that would…disappear." Daryan smirked. "Unfortunately, Rowdy pulled this little stunt right when Big Wins decided to go straight. The old man paid for his attorney and told him, 'If you did this, you deserve to be in jail'."

"What does that have to do with him being friends with Armando?" Apollo asked.

"I'm getting to that," Daryan replied testily. "When Rowdy got here, he discovered he had no clout and no protection because the Kitakis were out of the crime business. So he looked around and decided to latch onto Armando, because nobody went near Armando."

Apollo frowned. Kristoph was afraid of Armando. Marshall had described him as angry and unpredictable. Now this.

"Why?" he asked.

Daryan looked at him as if he was an imbecile.

"Because the guy was crazy," he said impatiently. "When Rowdy started to hang out with him, we took bets on how long it would be before Armando flipped out and drowned him in a washing machine." He shook his head. "Never happened. And Rowdy never realised Armando was making fun of him the whole time."

"So Rowdy's going to lie because he really believes Mr. Gavin killed his friend," Trucy guessed.

Daryan shook his head. "You're way off, kid," he replied. "This is what we both saw that night."

He reached over to the locker by his bed and had a sip of water before continuing.

"When fire alarm woke us up, the wing was already filling up with smoke. I was rattling the cell bars, trying to get the door to open. I could see Armando across the way, doing the same thing."

"How could you see him?" Apollo asked sharply, remembering how dark it was in the wing with the lights off.

"His visor," Daryan replied. "It had three red lights at the front, lit him up like a Christmas tree. Anyway, the next thing I see him whip round to the left…then he lunged at something. He went out of sight for a few seconds, then I saw him coming down." He frowned. "I think I heard something falling, too, but the fire alarm…" He smirked. "I've played so many rock concerts, but that alarm was the loudest thing I've ever heard. Anyway, I saw Armando fall, and then he didn't move. That's all I saw before I blacked out."

Apollo stared at Daryan, digesting what he'd just heard.

"From what you're saying…" he said slowly, "…it almost sounds like…"

"Like Armando attacked Gavin?" Daryan finished. "Yeah."

"You didn't see Gavin struggling with Armando?" Apollo asked.

Daryan shook his head. "I only saw Armando's visor," he replied. "If he hadn't been wearing it, I wouldn't have seen anything."

Apollo and Trucy looked at each other. Apollo fingered his bracelet idly – it hadn't reacted once during Daryan's story.

"Is the prosecution calling you as a witness?" Apollo enquired.

Daryan shrugged.

"That prosecutor told me to be at the courthouse tomorrow," he replied. "He said I might be called to testify."

Apollo frowned. 'Might' be called? Daryan's testimony seemed to undermine the prosecution's case. If Edgeworth was planning to ignore it, Apollo would have to make sure that Daryan's story was heard in court.

"Well, thank you for your time," Apollo remarked, extending a hand to Daryan.

Daryan didn't take it. "You wanna thank me?" he snorted. He pulled the curtain back a little and nodded to Klavier, sitting by Kristoph's bed. His tone softened. "Keep an eye on him, huh? This is hitting him pretty hard."

Trucy nodded. "We will."

Apollo glanced at his watch as they left Daryan's bedside. "Let's break for lunch," he suggested.

"Good idea, Polly," Trucy replied. Before Apollo could object, she took his hand and practically dragged him to Kristoph's bed.

The elder Gavin brother was still asleep, or feigning it. Klavier was slumped in the chair beside him, a dejected expression on his face.

"Prosecutor Gavin?" Trucy said gently, placing a hand on his shoulder. Klavier looked up at her, a brief smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"We were going to get some lunch," Trucy continued. "Would you like to join us?"

A sad smile appeared on Klavier's face, and Apollo hadn't the heart to object to the invitation.

"Ja," Klavier managed. He glanced at his brother again, and began to stand. "Ja, that would be good."